Axe Cliff seniors battle back to take second place in the Mini Jurassic Winter League

The Axe Cliff seniors team, all resplendent in Christmas jumpers after they had finished second behind winners Lyme Regis in this year’s Mini Jurassic League. The team are shown with the coveted trophy which they are planning to win for the first time in 2019. Picture CONTRIBUTED

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Axe Cliff seniors were back in Mini Jurassic League action along with Lyme Regis and Sidmouth Golf Clubs, and, in the final meeting of the League, Axe Cliff, who hosted the action, were sitting third with 27 points fewer than Sidmouth and 53 behind leaders Lyme Regis, writes Dave Bruce.

The captains of the three teams that contested the 2019 Mini Jurassic League. Dave Bruce of Axe Cliff, Tony Style of Sidmouth and Bob Shepherd who, as captain of the Lyme Regis team, collected the trophy. Picture CONTRIBUTED

What all that meant was that the Axe Cliff team required something of a minor miracle to avoid a third placed finish in the three team event.

Axe Cliff team captain Dave Bruce was desperate to lead from the front and give his team a good start, hoping to erase the memory of a ‘disaster darling’ of a round at Sidmouth the previous week!

Needless to say, he trebled his score, which was the inspiration the rest of the team wanted.

After five of the home players had finished, the team had picked up 19 and 20 points on Sidmouth and Lyme respectively.

However, all that changed – for the better – when the sixth Axe Cliff player, Paul Curtin, then came in with a tremendous 39 points which took the hosts, at that stage of the overall contest, into second place, five points ahead of Sidmouth, but still well shy of Lyme.

The last two players for Axe Cliff, Leighton Morgan and Malcolm Glass, gained more points to see Axe Cliff hold on to second spot with Lyme Regis crowned as the champions, finishing 14 points ahead of the field.

The undoubted star for Axe Cliff on the day was Rob Grove with a magnificent 40 point score.

Hope springs eternal that, with home advantage in leg one of the 2019 competition, Axe Cliff may go on to claim their first overall success in a competition that has now been played three times with two wins for Lyme and one for Sidmouth.

In other Axe Cliff news, on what proved to be a lovely, but cold and dry Friday, the Axe Cliff seniors contested their Monthly Stableford and the play produced some fine scoring.

Richard Orsman and John Hanna made light work of the course, both coming in with an amazing 40 points, but it was Richard who took the honours on countback.

Paul Hilder came third with a respectable 37 points. Steve Gibson, fresh from his Mini League performance, scored what proved to be the only two of the day.